


Today is Kumran

by bittereternity



Category: Monk (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 20:24:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bittereternity/pseuds/bittereternity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>That moment, between the old page and new one, is the hardest. The strength required to turn the page, to brave oneself to face something completely unknown and potentially dangerous is what matters in the end.</p><p>And then, just as simply, the page is turned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Today is Kumran

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lyrastar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrastar/gifts).



It’s like turning a page.

 

All that’s required is a _swish_ of the hand and the page, full of multitude of words and letters, is gone. Every sentence, every description, every action of all the protagonists and the significant others and the extras lurking behind in those pages, known only by their names, is gone. There’s darkness for a moment, waiting for the new page to come, a sudden flash of devastating whiteness that catches one’s breath.

 

That moment, between the old page and new one, is the hardest. The strength required to turn the page, to brave oneself to face something completely unknown and potentially dangerous is what matters.

 

And then, just as simply, the page is turned.

 

 

 

 

‘What’s so special about today, Monk?’ he asks, wiping his hand on the strategically placed wipe. Beside him, Trudy takes another sip of wine and his brows furrow just a little more.

 

‘Monk,’ he asks again, ‘you bought _wine?_’ Monk says nothing as he looks down in grave concentration to separate his peas from his carrots.

 

Natalie chuckles from the other end of the tables. She smiles at Julie sitting beside her before turning to him.  ‘Oh no, Mr. Monk thought that one can of beer will be enough for all of us during dinner. I thought I would try to save the day.’

 

Monk finally looks up from separating his vegetables and shrugs. He has a vague smile on his face and for the first time in many years, his collar is unbuttoned. One of his hands casually rests on the table, sometimes vaguely tapping away to an unheard tune of an obscure song. His eyes sharply notice Leland’s napkin that’s placed asymmetrically; one end of the napkin is much too closer to the edge of the table that the other but he doesn’t say anything. He smiles as he takes another bite of his food and even manages to be slightly interested in Julie’s excited college talk.

 

Leland addresses him directly now and his voice is sincere.

 

‘How are you, Monk?’

 

Adrian almost smiles. ‘I’m fine,’ he shrugs a little. ‘I’ve been cleaning a lot lately and I just washed my bed-sheets.’ He ignores the bemused glances of everyone around him and maintains his expression. ‘I’m fine,’ he insists again.

 

Leland can’t help but smile back as he takes another sip of his wine. Trudy squeezes his hand under the table.

 

 

 

 

The first thing he does is check the time when he gets the call. It’s seven-thirty in the morning, and normally he would be up except today is his day off in days. Trudy stirs beside him and murmurs something about throwing the phone out of the window. He just shakes his head and kisses her on the forehead before answering the phone.

For a minute, all he hears on the other side of the line is heavy breathing. He checks the phone for a wrong number but the screen brightly flashes _Natalie_ back at him.

 

‘Natalie, is that you?’ His voice is careful and soothing as he speaks.

 

All he hears is heavy breathing for a few more seconds she hangs up on him. He listens to the monotone of the dial-tone for a moment, trying to ascertain what went wrong all of a sudden.

 

Then he disconnects the phone and calls her back.

 

 

 

 

She picks up on the second ring when he calls.

 

‘Leland?’ she whispers into the phone and her voice is a little unstable. He can almost picture her phone shaking violently as she struggles not to drop it on the ground. It takes him a while to decipher what she’s saying before he finally realizes that this is the first time she’s called him by his first name.

 

The feeling that something is going to go horribly wrong courses through his body before she gathers herself up to speak again.

 

‘It’s about Mr. Monk,’ she says.

 

Just like that, the page is turned. He watches it fly by in front of his eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

He arrives there just in time to hear the doctor’s proclamation. He sees Dr. Bell there as well, arms folded over his dark-green sweater as he takes in the immaculate condition of the room.

 

_Natural causes, _the doctor says, not sparing another glance at the bed as he writes out the death certificate. He sees Natalie sitting on one of the sofas with a tissue and gives her a reassuring glance before going in.

 

When he enters the room, it’s empty. He sees Monk still lying as still as if he were sleeping, legs joined together and fully stretched in the middle of the bed. His hands are by his side and the blanket is fully drawn up to his chin. His pillows are arranged in perfect order behind his head and if he hadn’t known otherwise, Leland would’ve thought that he was sleeping.

 

What really draws him to the bed is the expression of absolute serenity on his face. His eyebrows aren’t folded in the least and his eyes are fully closed. There are no creases on his forehead and his lips are closed and perfectly aligned. There’s no sense of worry on his face and for once in his life, he isn’t worried about his wife’s murder or about leaving the gas stove on or the door unlocked.

 

For once, he is at peace.

 

 

 

 

He keeps looking back as they take Monk’s body away.

 

He looks immaculate in his death and serene and peaceful in his last moments.

 

This time, he’s the one who turns the page.

 

 

 

His funeral is on a sunny day. He thinks this is the perfect tribute to one of the most logically perfect people he ever knew.

 

He meets Natalie near the gate, standing in a corner and avoiding the very few people who were personally related to Monk and who’d cared to come.

 

‘He was okay, you know,’ he says softly, standing behind her so as not to make her jump. She turns to look at him and takes off her sunglasses for the first time.

 

‘He was okay when he died,’ he repeats, partly to himself but mostly to her. ‘He didn’t mind, for the first time. He had no complaints. He was _okay_ with everything.’

 

Natalie strongly grasps his hand as he keeps on repeating this over and over again like a mantra she’s desperate to hold on to. But with his one free hand he rubs her back soothingly and slowly feels her relax next to him.

 

Gradually, she takes a deep breath and takes back her sunglasses from him.

 

‘Yeah,’ she smiles a little. Her voice is still shaky but she manages to put her sunglasses back on and smile a little.

 

He watches her go ahead and try to greet the guests that keep coming up to her. He looks down and sighs for a moment when he feels Trudy come up from behind him and grab his fingers.

 

They walk the last bit towards the casket together, hand in hand and step by step.

 

 

 

He holds the last remains of the page and tries to grasp on to it as he walks by.

 

He lets go at the last second, just a little gap between his fingers and the page slips between his fingers.

 

Slowly but steadily, he lets it go.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I hope you like this and that this lives up to your expectations. Leland is also one of my favorite characters and I hope I was able to do him justice.  
> Also, I'm not sure I've done the spacing right. I tried to do it but I'm not sure if I got it right. If the story is completely incomprehensible, I apologize in advance and once the challenge is over, I will post it in my LJ with, hopefully, the correct spacing. I'm sorry if this is incoherent or if this note is ridiculously long! =)


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